Going Across the Street

Today our neighbours, Connie and Irene, invited Amy and I over for a play date. Their grandchildren Damon, 5, and Camryn, 3 1/2, were spending a few days with them for Spring Break.

Amy and Damon spent some time playing cars and then Amy and Camryn got into Irene's Tickle Trunk and then the princess outfits and very fancy hats ruled the day! What a great day. Thanks Damon and Camryn (and Connie and Irene too)!

The River

The Red River is rising!

Everyday, we've been getting inquiries from friends about the state of our new house situated on the river and whether we need sandbaggers. There was a major ice jam upstream from us earlier in the week that flooded a number of homes, but that ice has since moved and is now in front of our house. The river is high, but our house is still quite a bit higher than the river. It has not flooded in the one hundred and sixty years it has been there, so we're banking on history.

I tried to get down to the property to see for myself, but they were only letting homeowners through on the road. Since we do not own the house yet, I was not allowed through.

Our friend Arlene took her Mom, Shirley, and her Mom's friend, Marion, to show them the house on Friday and they took these pictures. The stand of trees behind Shirley and Marion marks the beginning of our property. As you can see, the water still has a ways to go.

Fingers crossed.

Gan Nian Hua

We've received information that has caused a paradigm shift in our thinking about our daughter's life.

The day Amy was brought into our lives, we asked the Director of the orphanage if we could go to the orphanage to see where Amy had spent the first 18 months of her life. The Director told us we could not go in the orphanage, but we could drive up and take pictures through the gate. As we posted here, we were met at the gates by a woman who, we were told by our translator, was Amy's nanny in the orphanage. We have now found out differently.

I joined an online group comprised of parents of children adopted from the same orphanage as Amy's. A number of parents were discussing the services of a man named Bruce who has a variety of contacts that allow him to find out information about foster families. We have sent correspondence to Nian Hua and have not heard anything from her, so I contacted Bruce to see if he perhaps Nian Hua had moved or if we had the wrong address.

We were so surprised when he got back to us the next day with the news that Amy never lived in the orphanage, but had been fostered by Nian Hua! We then sent many photographs and a list of questions to him and he went to her house to interview her.

Kleenex warning!

When he told that her that he was there on behalf of Ni Gan's parents to interview her, she began to cry. This picture was taken after she had regained her composure.Nian Hua told Bruce that she began to foster Amy the afternoon of March 27th, 2006, the day she was found. Amy was wearing brightly coloured clothes, was very tiny and cried all night. She had Amy until the morning of October 8th, 2008, when the director came to get her to bring her to us. Amy came into our lives at 11 am that day.

Amy was named after her. Amy's name was Fu Ni Gan. The last name Fu for the orphanage Fuzhou and Ni Gan so that they would know she was being fostered by Gan Nian Hua.

Amy was wearing a red string necklace when we got her. Nian Hua placed it on her neck to wish her health and happiness forever.

Amy called her Popo. It means Grandma.

Nian Hua has seven children, but lives alone since her husband died sixteen years ago. She fostered ten children, one at a time, with Amy being the last. Since the fall of 2007, she has become blind and can no longer foster.

We were so shocked, excited and saddened, all at once. To find this wonderful woman who took such good care of our beautiful girl is a miracle. To know Amy was much loved and well cared for is comforting. To think this woman, who loves Amy very much, will never be able to see her again is heart-breaking. To have information about our daughter's first eighteen months (minus one week) is invaluable to us.

We are so fortunate.

Here is Nian Hua in her living room in her house holding the picture she gave us plus one other we have never seen of a young Amy. Imagine having pictures of your child as a baby when you thought none existed! I can hardly wait to see it. The bedroom where, as with most Chinese children, Amy slept with her Popo.
The front door to her house.
Her neighbourhood. Her house is down the road, in the middle of the picture.

The gate to her village.

Baking

Amy did some baking with Krissy when she was here last week. Kristin was busy reading the recipe to figure out what ingredients they would need, when she realized that Amy had most of them out already. When Kristin brought out the eggs, Amy quickly grabbed them and just as Kristin began to protest, Amy cracked them into the bowl with the ease of a professional. Yes, we have made chocolate chip cookies more than once in this house. Unfortunately, Amy is not as fastidious with the dry ingredients and the cookies were not quite as they should be. That did not stop them from being eaten though! You'll notice that Amy is, like any fashion conscious female, wearing a tutu while baking. This seems to be quite the trend in our house as of late. Too bad I didn't get pictures of the outfit she was wearing when we took Sean to the airport. All I can say is that we got many double takes and lots of smiles. Either she is wearing a pink, sparkly, "fabulous" outfit . . . or nothing.

March 21st - Amy's Birthday Party Part 2

After the children's birthday party was over, Mommy and Daddy cleaned up and set up for the next event . . . the adults' party! Krissy, Seanie and Amy had a little rest. Well, actually, Daddy loaded them up in the car and took all the kids for a ride (they all sleep better in the car!). Mommy managed to have a little nap while they were gone too. Grandma (". . . the Best" as Amy sometimes calls her) gave Amy a Princess table and chair set. This was promptly put into service for dinner and Amy, Grandma and Krissy sat there. Amy took a few pictures of her guests.

#1 - Daddy and Krissy on the stairs.

#2 - Seanie's tall, but to a little girl, he must seem really tall! I think the crown adds a few inches. #3 - Grandma's such a card!

#3 - Denny's just plain silly!

#4 - Don't worry Dad, I know what I'm doing! You should learn to relax like Aunt Arlene.

Amy blowing out her candles on cake number two!

Denny and Eryl gave Amy a net. She became quite adept at catching specimens . . .

. . . but not so good at letting them go!

Eryl tried on Amy's new tea party hat and boa. Very nice!
What a great weekend. I think the best part for Amy was having Seanie and Krissy there. She certainly loves her big sister and brother.

March 21st - Amy's Birthday Party - Part 1

We had Amy's 3rd Birthday Party this Saturday. Actually, it was the first of two. Amy had her little friends over in the morning and then we had family and adult friends that evening.

I had set up a craft table where the kids could decorate visors which ended up being more popular than I had originally thought. We had a couple of Amy's older friends, Megan and Betty, come to the party as well to help with the little kids, like Halle. They were great helpers! Some kids, like Sophie, brought their own assistants!

Everyone sat down and had lunch.

Ben and Julianne got into the party spirit.

The theme for Amy's party was the Backyardigans (in case you couldn't tell). I made Amy's cake in the shape of Uniqua's house (modelled after a cake I found on the internet). I actually made two identical cakes, one for the morning party and one for the evening one.

Happy Birthday to You!

Izzy, at the ready, in case Amy can't manage to blow out all of her candles.

Robin got some valuable lessons from Megan on how to do a back flip.

He needs a bit more practice though.

Pretty Jillian, having a great time.

Halle leaving with her goodies.

Ben, getting a big hug from the Birthday Girl.

I have been waiting for a long time to have a children's birthday party and having this for Amy was so much fun. Now for Round Two!

March 20th - Amy's 3rd Birthday

Amy turned three today. I was up at 5am to decorate the house so that, when she got up, she was surprised, excited and knew it was an important day. This was something that my Mom used to do for us and it made us all feel very special.
We would also always have a present set for us on our spot at the table that we could open that morning. For Amy, I wrapped a pair of fairy wings, a magic wand and high heels for dress up and had them waiting for her. She declared her gifts to be "fabulous!" and wore her high heels for most of the day. Later, Robin was cuddling her in the rocking chair before putting her to bed. He thought she was asleep, when she suddenly sat up and told him that she "just LOVED her high heels".

Of course, this day could not go by without us thinking about Amy's Birthparents. My heart aches for the woman on the other side of the world who is no doubt thinking about her beautiful baby today and hoping she is okay. I've been trying very hard to send telepathic messages to her today to let her know that we have Amy, she is loved very much and we are so grateful to have her in our lives.

Happy Birthday My Little Girl.

March 17th - St. Patrick's Day

When Amy got up this morning, she dressed in her best shamrock outfit and came down for breakfast. She was very excited when she found shamrock jewellery and green eggs on the menu. Happy St. Patrick's Day!

March 15th - Krissy's Home

Kristin came home for a few days. One of the first things on the agenda was to celebrate her birthday.

The New House

A while back, I had alluded to the fact that we had made a big purchase. Well, here it is . . . our new digs! This is the view from the road as you come up to the gate - if there actually was a gate. We are thinking that the pillars (where one would put a gate if she was so inclined) are original to the property (1850-ish), as is the carriage house house closest to the road.
This is the house from the side that faces the road with the front entrance. This is the side that faces the river. The original house, built in the 1860's, burned in 1918, but part of the original house still exists. We think it's the stonework on the two sides of the house that was incorporated into the new house, built in 1920. The big windows are a three season porch that face the river.

We are putting in a pool right in front of the three season porch.

The smaller part is an addition put on in the 80's (the 1980's that is).This is the view from the three season porch facing the river.

Now if we could just get the temperature up above -20 so the snow will melt!